Jumbo trek reflects protection efforts

A herd of wild Asian elephants continues to meander on an epic journey across Yunnan province, monitored by authorities on the ground and followed just as closely by a growing online fan base of millions in China and abroad.

The animals are about 500 kilometers away from their natural habitat, the steamy tropical forests of Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture. They have eaten their way through numerous fields and caused property damage, though human injuries have been avoided.

"I have to say the authorities have done a commendable job," said Nilanga Jayasinghe, manager for Asian species conservation at the World Wildlife Fund.

"It demonstrates concerted interest in conservation and protecting the remaining wild elephant population in China."

Authorities have plowed resources into protecting the herd, deploying hundreds of law enforcement and monitoring the animals using drones. Police alert anybody who may be in the path of the wandering elephants and have frequently coaxed the herd to head in more favorable directions using food lures or roadblocks.

Many have speculated as to why the elephants ventured so far north to the drier and more densely populated region around Kunming.

Experts agree that successful efforts to conserve and grow China's elephant population are part of the story.

Elephants came close to regional extinction in China in the 1980s, when between 140 and 170 of the animals lived in scattered populations in Xishuangbanna and neighboring Pu'er in Yunnan. Then, in 1988, China passed a law protecting elephants, and their numbers have since rebounded, roughly doubling to more than 300 individuals today.

"No other country in this period has had such an increase in population," Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, an Asian elephant expert, said.

"In most of Asia the populations are declining. It's also a highly developed area, and to accommodate this growing number of elephants is a challenge."

Campos-Arceiz has studied elephants throughout Asia for 18 years and lives in Xishuangbanna, where he is researching China's elephants on behalf of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Growing numbers

Decades ago most of the country's elephants were concentrated in and around Mengyang, a small sub reserve in Xishuangbanna, he said. As their numbers have grown and resources have become more scarce, the elephants have started to venture further afield.

Chen Shu, a researcher with the Zoological Society of London living in Xishuangbanna, said that since elephants are protected by stringent laws, they find little threat from humans as they pass through agricultural land, where they also develop a taste for high-calorie crops.

"The increase in agricultural land and plantations in their territory is, for elephants, like finding a big sweetshop, right on their doorstep," Chen said.

"Something that is important to understand is that these elephants are not migrating, which I hear in the media a lot," Campos-Arceiz said. "They are dispersing－they are moving out of their native home range into unknown territories."

Residents in southern Yunnan can expect increasing numbers of roaming herds in search of new territories as the population flourishes, he said. However, he does not expect many will travel so far north and to such highly populated areas.

He was initially highly concerned for the elephants and what would happen to them if they wandered into a town and harmed people.

"I must say that the authorities have done a fantastic job at preventing accidents," he said.

Kate Evans, founder of the group Elephants for Africa, said she was encouraged by the amount of resources local authorities had deployed.

"They are taking this very seriously and trying to come to a solution which doesn't mean that these elephants are killed."

With African elephants, herd dispersals often occur when a dominant herd stakes claim to a favorable area, Evans said, forcing more subservient groups to set off in search of greener pastures. Often these travelers will follow "elephant highways", or well-established routes familiar to older members of the herd.

Such routes are likely to have long since vanished on the way from south to central Yunnan, forcing the herd to improvise. It is likely the herd simply made a miscalculation, Campos-Arceiz said.

"Elephants are very intelligent animals; they do not follow instinct as much as many other animals. They are much more decision-makers. That means that sometimes they can make really bad decisions, just like humans."

Though there are adults in the herd, there are no elderly members, Campos-Arceiz said.

Should the elephants not return home any time soon, Campos-Arceiz said, his preference is for the authorities to keep doing what they are doing and monitor and protect the animals as they continue their exploration.